By John Owoo
(Atakpamé – Togo)
The historic Karp Kamina site in Togo has once again become a gathering place for artists, researchers, and cultural practitioners as the Karp Artists and Researchers Residency opened on Monday, October 5, with a vibrant display of traditional music and dance.
The opening performance by traditional music and dance groups set the tone for two weeks of creative exploration, bringing together participants from Togo, Ghana, Benin, Norway and beyond. Artists, academics, researchers, dancers, musicians and culinary artists are taking part in the residency, each bringing different perspectives to the shared task of exploring Kamina’s cultural and historical significance.
The program combines creative practice with research, allowing participants to investigate, interpret and respond to the site through their respective disciplines. Visits to tourist and historical sites around Karp Kamina have further introduced participants to the cultural landscape, inspiring their work and encouraging deeper engagement with the community.
Since its establishment, the KARP residency has sought to place Radio Kamina’s history within contemporary cultural discourse. Between 2016 and 2022, the program focused particularly on more than a century of Radio Kamina’s history, examining its legacy and considering how its past could inform conversations about the future.
Today, the remains of the historic site remain an important point of departure. Rather than letting the physical remnants and memories of Kamina fade, the residency seeks to preserve and creatively reinterpret the site, transforming it into a place where history, contemporary art, research, and tourism can intersect.
The ambition is to create an experience that attracts local communities, tourists, artists, and international researchers to Kamina, while encouraging a greater appreciation of its historical and cultural value.
The initiative also recognizes that meaningful cultural revitalization requires collaboration. Government agencies, ministries responsible for arts and culture, investors, the Chief and elders of Atakpame-Kamina, and local residents are among the stakeholders being encouraged to participate in the process and contribute to the site’s development.
The 2026 edition, titled “Cultural Revitalization II: Reclaim • Reimagine • Revive,” seeks to stimulate a vibrant local artistic community while creating opportunities for cross-cultural dialogue between local and international practitioners.
More importantly, it positions cultural heritage not as something frozen in the past, but as a living resource that can be reinterpreted through experimentation, research and creative practice. For participants, the two-week residency is not simply a journey into Kamina’s history, but an opportunity to help shape how that history will be remembered, experienced, and carried into the future.
Commune Ogou 1, DRAC-Plateaux, Perfecture de L’ogou and Hong Kong Hotel are sponsoring the 2026 edition of the residency.
